Affiliation:
1. Faculty of Physical Education, Jozef Pilsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, Marymoncka 34, 00-968 Warsaw, Poland
2. Military Institute of Aviation Medicine, Krasinskiego 54/56, 01-755 Warsaw, Poland
3. The Kielanowski Institute of Animal Physiology and Nutrition, Polish Academy of Sciences, Instytucka 3, 05-110 Jabłonna, Poland
4. School of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw, Okopowa 59, 01-043 Warsaw, Poland
Abstract
Cardiovascular diseases are a group of disorders of heart and blood vessels which are the leading cause of death globally. They are also a very important cause of military unsuitability especially among military pilots. Some of the risk factors cannot be modified, but a large group of them can be modified by introducing healthy habits or behaviors, such as regular physical activity, quitting of tobacco smoking, cessation of harmful alcohol consumption, or stress avoidance. Specific occupational and environmental factors, such as acceleration, pressure changes, hypoxia, thermal stress, noise, vibration, prolonged sedentary posture, difficulties in moving the limbs, shifts, work shift irregularities, circadian dysrhythmia, variations in the microclimate, motion sickness, radiation, toxicological threats, occupational stress, emotional tension, highly demanding tasks especially during take-off and landing, predominance of intellectual over physical activity, and forced operation speed against time shortage are considered as characteristic for military personnel, especially military aircrews. They are of special concern as some of them are considered as potential CVD risk factors. The aim of this study was to discuss the influence of selected occupational and environmental factors (noise, altitude, hypoxia, acceleration forces, tobacco smoking, oral health, and stress) regarding their importance for CVD risk in military professionals and military aviators. The performed revision confirmed that they are exposed to certain characteristic conditions, which may influence the CVD risk but the number of solid scientific data regarding this subject are limited. There is a great need to perform complex studies on environmental and occupational risk factors for CVDs in military personnel and military aviators as well as how to minimize their influence to prolong the state of health and military suitability of this professional groups.
Reference83 articles.
1. WHO (2023, June 02). WHO CVDs. Available online: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cardiovascular-diseases-(cvds).
2. Extending the Age Limit of Commercial Pilots?;Simons;Eur. Heart J.,2020
3. Metabolic Syndrome and Carotid Artery Intima-Media Thickness in Military Pilots;Radjen;Aviat. Space Environ. Med.,2011
4. Wilson, D., Driller, M., Johnston, B., and Gill, N. (2022). The Prevalence of Cardiometabolic Health Risk Factors among Airline Pilots: A Systematic Review. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 19.
5. Brown, J.C., Gerhardt, T.E., and Kwon, E. (2021). Risk Factors For Coronary Artery Disease, StatPearls Publishing. NCBI Bookshelf. A service of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. StatPearls [Internet].